Indicator for hoisting and conveying apparatus.



' D. P. WILLIAMS.

INDICATOR FOR HOISTING AND CONVEYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 19. 1914.

Patented Oct. 12, 1915.

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ZQVGZLPMZZZZ'aImS- v o W g D. P. WILLIAMS.

INDICATOR FOR HOISTING AND CONVEYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 19. 1914.

1,156,733. A Patented 00t.12, 1915. v A

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unrrnn srAfrns r raivr errace DAVID. r. WILLIAMS,"or-WHITNEY, NORflfI-IcAno'LINA.

INDICATOR FOR HoIs rrNe" AND oonviiY'InG APPARATUS.

Application filed November 19, 1914. Serial No. 873,067.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, DAVID 1?. WILLIAMS, a citizen of the United States,residingat Whitney, in the county'of Stanly and State of North Carolina,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in IndlcatorsforHoisting and Conveying Apparatus, of which the following is aspecification. j This invention relates to hoisting and conveyingapparatus, and has-for its object. the provlsion of s1n1ple, 1nexpens1veand It. is the object of my invention'to avoid;

the delays and. uncertainty occasioned by this inability of the engineerto always watch the bucket and provide meanswhereby the position of thebucket will be positively made known.

The invention also seeks; toprovide a device for the stated purposewhich will! be inexpensive to produce and' maintain. and

which may be set up at any point-within the engine room where-it: maybe:observed by the operator.

The several stated objects. of the invention andsuch other objects aswill incidentally appear from the'following. description are attained insuch mechanisnrasis illustrated. in the accompanying drawings, and theinvention resides in certain novel fea* tures which will'be particularlypointed out scription.

in. the claims following the detailed def nature of a diagram showingmyimproved indicator set up for use 1n connectloniw-lth a two-part line;Fig. 2-,is a similar; view showing; the device adapted to a: line of.more than two parts; and. Fig-3 is a detall' perspective view of aportion-oftheindi:

cator board and parts cooperating: immedi ately therewith.

In thedrawings, 1 indicates asteam sup-- plypipewhich leads to an engine2utilized= Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 12,

to drive a hoisting drum 3 and a conveyerdrum 4: which may be of,anylpreferred con-.

structionand; arranged in any desired or convenient manner. secured toand'coiled around the drum 3 and extends from the engine room oversuitable A hoisting cable 5 is .60

guide pulleys to the hoisting bucket in the manner which will be readilyunderstoodby. those skilled in theart.

In like mannera carriage-controlling cable 6 is secured to andcoiledaround the conveyer drumt and extended from the engine room to theconveyer carriage in the usualmanner,

In'carrying out my invention, I secure to the ends of the drums 3 and4,-or to the shafts supporting said drums, sprocket wheels 7 and 8'respectively, and aroundJthe said sprocket wheels I train chains 9'and10 which extend respectively to and around sprocket wheels 11 and 12.These sprocket wheels 11 and 12 are secured respectively to windingshafts 13 and 14: whichare suitably mounted in any convenient mannerinthe engine. room and are illustrated as arranged above the drums. Atsome convenient point: in the engine; room, where it maybe readilyobserved; at all times by the engineer, I

provide an indicator board 15 which may i be one of the roof-supportingposts and is provided withtwo vertical series of sockets or recesses 16,asshown. Upon the said indicator board 15, at or near the upper endthereof, 1 securepulleys 17 and 18' around which-pass cables or wires 19and 20 which. extend respectively to-the shafts 13 and;14: to which theyare secured and around which they are adapted to wind. An idler or guide21 maybe provided wherever needed to support and guide one or both ofthe wires so that theyv will pass to the respective pulleys. in suchmanner as to travel around the sameeasily andfreelyat all times. Theflexible wires or-cables 19 and 20. passdownwardly fromv the pulleys 17and 18 to blocks 22 and 23, and then return ,to the respective pulleys17 and 18 and then again pass to the blocks 22 and 23 to which theirends are secured. ,Indicator weights 24 and 25, are

suspended from the respective blocks 22 and u 23 and'these weightsareprovided with laterally projecting pointed-pins or indicator scribedindicator will be readily understood. As the respective drums move inone or the other direction to wind or unwind the cables thereon, therotation of the drums will be transmitted through the described gearingto the winding shafts 13 and 14-, and the cables or flexible wires 19and 20 will, of course, be wound or unwound on said shafts. As thecables or flexible wires 19 and 20 are wound or unwound on theirrespective shafts, the depending portions of the wires or cables will berespectively shortened or lengthened and, consequently, the indicatorweights will be caused to travel vertically in front of the indicatorboard and adjacent the vertical rows of sockets. The pegs 28 and 29 willbe placed in one or another of the sockets or recesses 16, as may bedetermined by measurement or experiment, and it is then only necessaryfor the engineer or operator to watch the movement of the indicatorweights to be informed as to the position of the carriage and thebucket. When an indicator weight has reached a position in which the pinprojecting therefrom will be pointing exactly to the peg in the adjacentrow of sockets, the engineer will know that the carriage or the buckethas reached the desired point of its travel and should stop. Assumingthat it is desired to convey a load over an excavation and lower thebucket to the bottom of said excavation which is out of sight of theengineer, the engineer will drive the conveying drum 4 until theindicator weight 25 actuated thereby will bring its indicator point orpin into horizontal alinement with the adjacent peg 29. He will thenknow that the bucket is orer the point at which the load is to bedeposited and will stop the movement of the conveying drum and will thenset the hoisting drum in motion so as to lower the bucket to the bottomof the excavation. The indicator weight 2% operated by the hoisting drumwill then descend in front of. the indicator board and, when the saidweight brings its pin into horizontal alinement with the peg 28 in theadjacent series of recesses or sockets, the engineer will know that thebucket is at the bottom of the excavation.

It is obvious that, if the conditions of use locate the engine in such amanner that the entire range of travel of the conveyor and bucket is outof the range of the engineers vision, pegs may be inserted in theindicator board to denote both limits of travel of the conveyer and ofthe bucket so that the engineer will, at all times, be accuratelyinformed as to the position of both the conveyer' and the bucket eventhough he may be unable to see them. It will be readily noted that eachindicator Weight is positively driven by the drum to which it isrespectively geared, and that the device is exceedingly simple in theconstruction and arrangement of its parts so that it may be readily setup in any engine room at a trifling cost.

In a cableway employing a two-part line, the load line is fastened tothe tail tower and the load indicator block and the load drum willremain stationary while the conveyer drum is moving the carriage. In acableway employing a line of more than two parts, however, the load lineis fastened to the carriage and the load drum turns with the conveyerdrum when the carriage is being shifted. In such arrangement, therefore,it is necessary to provide means for holding the load indicatorstationary while the carriage is being shifted, and to meet this need Ihave devised the arrangement illustrated in Fig. 2.

The conveyer indicator is arranged and operated in exactly the samemanner as shown in Fig. 1 and previously described. The load-indicatorcable 19, however, is not attached to the shaft 13 but is carried pastsaid shaft and is attached to an auxiliary shaft 30 which is mounted inswinging hangers 31. A pinion 32 is fixed on the shaft 30 and is adaptedto mesh with a similar pinion 33 secured on the shaft 13 and the punions are yieldably held in mesh by a spring 3% which is attached, at oneend, to a timber or some. other fixed part of the engine-inclosingstructure and, at its opposite end, to one of the hangers 31 orotherwise arranged so that it tends to swing the shaft 30 to the shaft13. A standard 35 is carried by a bar 1 36 which is mounted in suitableguides on the bed of the engine, or isotherwise conveniently, disposed,and has one end pivoted to the lower end of an operating lever 37.

The upper end of this standard projects between the shafts l3 and 30 anda brace 38 may be extended between the standard and the bar 36 to attainthe necessary strength.

When the bucket is being raised or lowered, the pinions 32 and 33 are inmesh and the auxiliary shaft will rotate at the same speed as themainwinding shaft 13 so as to wind or unwind the cable 19. When thebucket has reached the desiredheight or depth, as shown by the indicatorblock, the operating lever is swung forward and the standardtherebycaused to pull the shaft 30 away from the shaft 13 against the tensionof the spring 34. The pinions 32 and 33 will, consequently, bedisengaged and the shaft 30 will cease to rotate so that the loadindicator block will remain at rest, the frictional engagement betweenthe standard and the shaft under the force of the spring beingsufiicient to prevent the weight of the indicator block rotating theshaft. The movement of the carriage will then not affect the loadindicator. When the bucket is to be again lowered or raised, thestandard is shifted in the opposite direction and the spring then drawsthe auxiliary shaft to its operative position with the pinions again inmesh.

Having'thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is 1. Anindicator for hoisting and conveying mechanism comprising an. indicatorboard provided with indicia indicating thelimit of travel of thehoisting and conveying members, shiftable devices adapted to be placedat points along said indicia todenote the points of stoppage of thehoisting and conveying members, respectively, indicator members disposedin front of the indicator board, andmeans for moving the said indicatormembers alongsaid indicia according to the movement of the hoisting andconveying members.

2. The combination of an indicator board having a series of socketstherein a peg adapted to be seated in any one of said sock.- ets, anindicator movable along the line of the sockets, a drum, a windingshaft, gearing whereby the winding shaft will be actuated by the drum,and a flexible connection v 4. The combination of a drum, an indicator,a shaft geared to the drum, a second shaft, a flexible connectionbetween the indicator and the second shaft, and 'yieldable means forholding said second shaft in operative engagement with the shaft gearedto the drum. I

5. The combination of a drum, an indicator, -a shaft geared to the drum,a second shaft, swinging hangers carrying said second shaft, a flexibleconnection between the indicator and said second shaft, a-spring actingon said swinging hangers to hold the second shaft inoperative engagementwith the shaft geared to the drum, and means for moving said secondshaft away fromthe shaft gea'redto the drum.

6.. The combination of a drum, an indicator, a shaft geared to the drum,a second shaft, a flexible connection between the indicator and thesecond shaft, swinging hangers carrying said second shaft, a springacting on said hangers to hold said second shaft in: operativeengagement with the shaft geared to the drum, a standard pro-- jectingbetween the two shafts and adapted to bear against the said secondshaft, and

means acting on said standard to move the said swinging hangers inopposition to the spring.

1n testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

DAVID P. WILLIAMS.

Witnesses:

A. W. GoooH, FLOYD D. BULLOCK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0.

